Something Better Than Hate
by Perdue
Summary: It was like nothing and everything he'd ever wanted. A birthday fic for Naruto. SasuNaru


^_^ Happy birthday, Naru-chan.

**Warnings: **Pure fluff here! Maybe a little angst. :)

**Disclaimer:** So, I guess I don't own Naruto. Because sadly, Kishimoto-sensei would never do something like this. Even though it's too cute. Hmph.

**Something Better Than Hate  
**_-_

Naruto awoke to the rhythmic beating of raindrops against the window and roof of his apartment. His eyes opened slowly, the usually bright blue darkened considerably under the shadow of the early hour. It took a few minutes to adjust to the lighting (or lack thereof), and when he was at least able to make out the silhouettes of his furniture, he pulled the blankets away, shivering at the cold air that bit at his skin.

"Why is it always so cold in the morning?" Naruto whined as he stood, taking off his sleeping cap and dropping it lazily onto the bed before leaving the room, taking a quick glance at his clock only to find out it was half-past five o'clock; almost three hours earlier than his usual waking time. He gave the clock a dramatic pout before closing the bedroom door. Once in the kitchen, the blond systematically took out a box of ramen and placed it in his microwave, setting the timer for three minutes.

Lately, Naruto had been feeling incredibly… routine. Wake up, ramen, dress, go to the Academy, fail terribly, train for hours, ramen, train for a few more hours, sleep. In fact, that he'd awoken three hours early was the most exciting thing that had happened in at least a month. And that was sad. Really, really sad.

"Aw, man," he groaned, placing his head in his hands. What had he possibly done to deserve this? It's not like he failed on purpose; things just came with a lot more difficulty to him than they did to others. It's not that he didn't want friends; people just automatically detested his very existence. It's not so much he enjoyed being alone; it was simply that way, and had been since his birth.

Birth… birth…

"My birthday!"

October tenth. Naruto had actually managed to forget it was his birthday that day. "Not like it matters," the whiskered boy murmured, his eyebrows creasing sadly for a moment, only to jump at the steady BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! of the microwave.

* * *

When no one acknowledges your being, it becomes difficult to acknowledge yourself. When you go through seven years of nothingness, it's not so easy to distinguish your date of birth from every other day. When you have _no one_… it's impossible to see anything other than black and white.

Naruto had made that discovery on his seventh birthday. And being a just-turned eight-year-old walking in the dark and pouring rain to a deserted training ground at an Academy where all he received was bad publicity and a simple case of no-love, all he could really think about was the memory of that epiphany and how it had changed his outlook on life. He'd never worked harder in his life until that year, and though his efforts were usually in vain, he never gave up and never let people convince him that he was a failure. It was around that time that he made the decision to become Hokage someday; the _greatest_ Hokage, at that. Uzumaki Naruto _never _went back on his word, so he found it quite obvious that no matter what, his dream would one day come to fruition.

But, he was also tired of his loneliness. He was beginning to hate that everyone in his class laughed at him every time he made a mistake, that they went out of their way to make his life more difficult. In fact, the only person who'd never made any reaction to Naruto's stupidity, whether intentional or not, was Uchiha Sasuke. He could remember around a year ago, Sasuke might have smirked a bit at Naruto's "occasional" clumsiness, but a few months after Sasuke's seventh birthday, apparently a great tragedy befell the Uchiha clan, and suddenly Sasuke was the only one left. He didn't smirk anymore, he never spoke unless spoken to by Iruka-sensei, he trained in private, and ignored his fangirls even more than usual (he'd at least cared enough to look aggravated before).

Since Sasuke was Naruto's sworn rival for eternity, it was only natural that Naruto felt a slight tug in his chest when Sasuke began to ignore him. He might even have gone so far as to say he was… _worried_ about his rival, though boyish pride would never allow him to admit it. But, it just wasn't right! You can't be proper rivals if you don't acknowledge each other!

Naruto suddenly felt incredibly short of breath. He'd finally reached his destination and stood behind the chain-link fence at the training ground, staring at the object of his inner tangent, Ice Prince Uchiha Sasuke himself. The older boy was soaked clean through, his hair and clothes sticking wetly to his body, his shoulders and chest heaving with each labored breath he took. Naruto reached up, his fingers wrapping into the fence, feeling asphyxiated and wondering why his legs wouldn't move—why when he opened his mouth to shout a smart remark, no sound came out.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Sasuke shouted. Naruto's eyes widened at the blast of fire that cut through the darkness and lit up the entire training ground for many seconds, giving the whiskered boy a much better look at his rival.

Despite the amount of chakra it had obviously taken to pull that jutsu off, Sasuke looked… frail. Breakable. Unhappy in a way that was deeper than possible for perhaps even himself to understand.

Naruto had been born without parents. He'd known since as long as his memory allowed that he was without family. The fact that he comprehended the fact did not make it any less sad, but because it was all he'd ever known, he knew how to healthfully deal with it. Sasuke, on the other hand, had grown up in a loving family. All the Uchiha heir had ever known was a full clan; a happy place to which he belonged. To have it so suddenly ripped from you—to be so abruptly thrust into that world of loneliness… Naruto wondered if Sasuke was really taking care of himself the way he used to. In fact, when Naruto thought hard enough, he realized that Sasuke was much thinner than he had been a year before, that there were circles growing beneath his eyes.

How long had Sasuke been at the training ground, anyway? If he was already so worn out, it must have been an hour at least. And judging from the way his jutsu flickered out and died almost as instantaneously as it was started, Naruto could see it had been _much_ longer than only an hour.

"Sasuke…" the blond whispered, the word barely a breath upon his lips. Sasuke was falling forward, his arms and hair lifting gracefully behind him. Something had to be terribly wrong; Naruto had never seen his rival in such a weak state. There was a fire right where he was about to fall, and he wasn't even stopping himself—h-he might be hurt really badly…

"Sa…! Sasuke!" Naruto cried, jumping clear over the fence and running to his rival as soon as his feet hit the ground on the other side. Never mind that he hated Sasuke; never mind that he would not rest until he beat the other boy. None of that mattered. For reasons unbeknownst even to himself, all that held importance to Naruto was that Sasuke was alright.

In a single, fluid movement, Naruto had instinctively focused chakra into his feet and kicked off the ground, flying over Sasuke and grabbing the limp boy from under the arms, holding him closely to his chest as they went safely over the patch of fire and crashed just beyond it. Naruto gritted his teeth and pulled his arms out from around his rival, his legs that straddled the other's lower back tightening so that Sasuke couldn't move. "You," Naruto growled, raising his fist and striking at the back of Sasuke's head, "_idiot!_" At the sudden blow, Sasuke gave a very faint grunt. Naruto felt stupid when his eyes stung with guilt; his eyebrows creased and his voice gave an indignant choke as he said, "Are you _trying_ to get yourself killed?"

Naruto took his fist away from the Uchiha heir and wiped at the water spilling from his own eyes. _Why the hell am I crying?_ the blond thought resentfully. Not even six-thirty in the morning and already it was turning into the worst birthday ever. It just wasn't fair! Every person in Konoha completely despised him for reasons he didn't understand, and now not only had his rival started to ignore him conclusively, he was neglecting his own well-being to the point where he almost died. Almost _died_. If Naruto hadn't woken up two hours early, if he hadn't decided to go train since there was nothing better to do, if he hadn't gone to _this specific training ground_, there might have been no more Sasuke.

It took only that thought—no more Sasuke—for a wet sob to escape his throat. _I… I c-can't cry in front of S-Sasuke_, Naruto thought, feeling very helpless. He bit his lip to cover another sob and attempted to get up, his plan to just leave, when a hand was suddenly grabbing his shirt and pulling him back into the mud. Naruto yelped in surprise, and saw Sasuke pulling himself up out of his peripheral vision.

"I'm not going to die, moron," Sasuke said. There was only a slight pause of shock before Naruto set off loudly.

"What are you talking about! I just saved you from falling in that fire right there! Are you so goddamned stubborn that you can't even admit that I rescued you!" Naruto continued to yell. It felt like word-vomit, because he simply couldn't stop himself. He was just so… happy all of a sudden. Perhaps it was that the tone in his rival's voice had been so arrogant, and it was as if nothing had happened and they were back to being proper rivals. So, being distracted with his own rant, Naruto barely noticed as Sasuke leaned over him, and didn't actually stop talking until he felt two rain-soaked lips on his cheek.

"Happy birthday, moron."

Sasuke was already walking out of the training ground by the time Naruto felt conscious enough to quite think, much less able to breathe. It had been so unexpected, he couldn't even bring himself to run after the Uchiha heir. It was too strange to think it; his rival had remembered it was his birthday; had _kissed _him. And strangely—it was like nothing and everything he'd ever wanted.

_A treat for all these problems  
They can't find us for the moment  
Then for all past efforts  
They're buried deep beneath  
Our hearts and somewhere in our stomachs  
_Monsters, Band of Horses


End file.
